A new clean energy project from Barbados-based startup Rum and Sargassum Inc. has attracted a pledge of full support by the government.
“I want to commend the leaders of this project and pledge the full support of the Government of Barbados and my ministry,” said Lisa Cummins, Barbados Minister of Energy and Business.
“I look forward to partnering with stakeholders in the government, private sector, academic community, civil society and diplomatic sector, as we build out this SarGASsum project over the next 18 months,” said Dr. Legena Henry, the company’s CEO and Founder.
Both were speaking at the launch of the company’s latest project, called SarGASsum, which has two deliverables: setting up the country’s first biofuel service station, and developing a mobile app to help predict Sargassum seaweed biomass influx patterns into the island’s exclusive economic zone.
Rum & Sargassum Inc. produces affordable, fossil-fuel free, renewable compressed natural gas to power motor vehicles, using low-cost locally sourced organic inputs including rum industry wastewater, Sargassum seaweed and Barbados Blackbelly sheep manure.
Its new project is backed by a €300,000 research grant from the Harnessing Innovative Technologies to Support Resilient Settlements on the Coastal Zones of the Caribbean initiative, called HIT RESET Caribbean, which is funded by the ACP Innovation Fund and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States’ Research and Innovation Programme, with the financial contribution of the European Union. It is being executed by the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency and Anton de Kom University of Suriname.
